Here I Go Again

Just like Friday’s blog post, the following is another one that wasn’t at all what I’d had in mind. There had been a plan, but that old cliché reared it’s ugly head. “The best laid plans…” and all that.

Let me explain.

The original idea for today was to share a little bit from a new book, I’d recently started reading by Anne Lamott. It’s about spirituality and prayer, and the title is Help. Thanks. Wow.

There’s a lot of wisdom packed into a small volume, and the plan was to do a review that also tied into my philosophy of prayer and my relationship with God. Anne and I share the same simple, and sometimes irreverent, approach to how we relate to a Supreme Being, so it’s been no surprise that this book resonates. It’s one I’m reading slowly, purposely picking times when I want to stop my busy mind and touch base with spiritual things. Not a book I read for purely for entertainment.

For entertainment, I open my Kindle. Which I did Sunday morning to read while I ate breakfast.

And what happened?

Right after I’d settled with a bowl of cereal and my Kindle, the device decided to stop working. Just suddenly froze in the middle of a page. The screen went gray behind the words, and just sat there. Refused to move. Do anything.

I was bereft. Stories are my meal companions, unless someone comes for a visit. Otherwise it’s just me and my Kindle and whatever book I’m reading to review, or simply reading for the pure joy of it. I hardly know how to eat without something to read. Without electronic pages to swipe, what can be done with the hand that isn’t holding the spoon? What do I do with my eyes? Can’t just stare at flakes of Raisin Bran and bits of strawberries for a half hour.

It became clear that my reading pleasure would have to come the old-fashioned way – a book with paper pages in my hand. So I picked up this one from Kristy Woodson Harvey. It’s her latest release, A Happier Life, and I’d had it since it released last month, waiting for the perfect time to read it.

Sunday morning turned out to be that perfect moment.

And what a perfect first sentence in the prologue, “Houses outlive the people they love.”

What?

Had to read it again to make sure my dyslexic mind hadn’t rearranged words.

Nope. Not a mistake. That’s the opening.

Intrigued, I continued to finish what was the most unusual and beautiful prologues I’ve read in a long time. 

Recently, there’s been a debate in the publishing industry as to whether whether an author should start a story with a prologue, but if they can be written as meaningfully as this one, with lovely words and sentences that pull a reader in, then why not?

That prologue in A Happier Life is short, as all prologues should be, and it’s purposely relevant to what’s coming next in the novel. In the last three paragraphs, the old house reminisces about a family that was particularly special. In the next chapter, the reader is introduced to members of that family. Members still alive, but who’ve never gone back after 1976 when their parents died, and one person who’d never seen the house.

In the second to the last paragraph of the prologue, there’s mention of an unexpected death, (the parents) and the old house relates: “I alone know the real story, have held the truth right here all this time, if anyone had bothered to uncover it. But that is the plight of old houses. At some point in our seemingly infinite lives, we may be forgotten. And so, we must cling to the joys and secrets forever stored within our walls, until we are remembered again.” 

What a perfect setup for the premise of this story, which is that a descendant of that couple mentioned having met an untimely death does come to the old house and unearths the memories and secrets.

Keaton, the main character is introduced while she’s in the midst of a personal and professional crisis, and she’s one of those complex and fascinating women that Kristy is known for bringing to life on a page.

Those people, and that mastery of the craft of writing, are why I enjoy Kristy’s books so much. I’ve read every one since the first, Dear Carolina, and she just keeps getting stronger and stronger as an author.

BTW, I’m not planning to get a new Kindle for a while.

And I’m glad Kristy is working on a new book.

That’s all from me for today folks. I have a busy week ahead with PT, getting a new washing machine. And trying to finish the editing on my new book. Whatever your week’s plans are, I hope there are moments for pure enjoyment. Be safe. Be happy.